Actions of Britain's top IRA spy likely resulted in more lives lost than saved, inquiry says

Boutcher said he expected the British government to let him name "Stakeknife" in Kenova's final report, which will be published after specific reports are provided to families in the months ahead. Boutcher also called on the government and Northern Irish Republican leadership to apologise to the families of those who lost loved ones.

The actions of a high ranking British government informer within the Irish Republican Army (IRA), codenamed "Stakeknife", likely resulted in more lives being lost than saved, an independent inquiry found on Friday. The IRA was responsible for more than half the 3,600 deaths during three decades of sectarian conflict in the British-ruled province that was largely ended by the signing of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord.

The Operation Kenova report found that British security forces were frequently aware of imminent abductions and murders and yet failed to protect those at risk. As a result, it said, murders that could and should have been prevented were allowed to take place with the knowledge of the security forces, and those responsible for murder were not brought to justice and were instead left free to reoffend.

"This report leaves little doubt that the Republican leadership was responsible for numerous dreadful crimes, many of which the Government failed to prevent," Former Kenova lead Jon Boutcher said in a statement. Boutcher led the eight-year probe until his appointment as head of the Northern Irish police force last year and presented the findings at a news conference alongside former Scotland police chief Iain Livingstone, who took over as head of Kenova in October.

The 212-page interim report did not reveal the identity of the agent who was allegedly a leading member of the IRA's feared internal security unit (ISU), the "Nutting Squad", which interrogated suspected informers. 'STAKEKNIFE' IDENTITY

Freddie Scappaticci, a Belfast man who died last year, denied being "Stakeknife" after newspapers named him as the agent in 2003. He lost a legal bid to force British ministers to publicly clear him of being a double agent. The report stated it was well known that Scappaticci was a member of the ISU and a critical person of interest at the heart of the investigation.

Prior to his death, prosecutors were considering a number of Kenova files which the report's investigators believe contained strong evidence of very serious criminality on Scappaticci's part, it added. Boutcher said he expected the British government to let him name "Stakeknife" in Kenova's final report, which will be published after specific reports are provided to families in the months ahead.

Boutcher also called on the government and Northern Irish Republican leadership to apologise to the families of those who lost loved ones. Britain's Northern Ireland Minister, Chris Heaton-Harris, said in a statement that it would not be right for the government to comment on the substance of the interim report until the conclusion of civil litigation cases related to it.

The former political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein, which is now the largest party in Northern Ireland, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The report said widespread belief among some in the security forces that the intelligence provided by "Stakeknife" saved "countless" or "hundreds" of lives are exaggerated, and that the number of lives he saved was between high single figures and low double figures.

While stating that the responsibility for the torture and murder lay with the IRA, the report highlighted the lack of a legal framework to properly govern the use of agents in which their handling was seen on occasions as a high-stakes "dark art" practised "off the books". The Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a statement that the deficiencies and failings regarding the handling and dissemination of intelligence by police have been addressed by the restructuring of its intelligence systems.

Investigators for Operation Kenova recommended between 2019 and 2022 that more than 30 individuals, including alleged paramilitaries, former police and ex-members of the intelligence and security forces, should face criminal charges. The Public Prosecution Service decided in recent months not to prosecute, citing "insufficient evidence".